snot rocket

my morning started with an errand. i took the bike. it was pretty windy out but nice. got back home. the stuff i wanted/needed to do seemed to be closing in around me. each time i did something it seemed like the mess was worse. i reached my breaking point while feeding zoe. fingers in dish, just took bib off, bananas and cereal all over her, my pants and the floor. typical. happens all the time... but that moment had me exhale a god dammit. john told me to go out on a ride. hell yeah, why didn't i think of that.
the spot got the call. i headed out.




























there was actually a small trail that wasn't under water that i hit. it was about 20 feet but it was all rooty and stuff so i was stoked. the view from that trail:















moving on.
















lake arrowhead was a bit flooded.



































































apparently my bottle cage isn't perfectly straight from this past fall's crash.
















i came home to these gals.
































of course she was playing lego star wars.















i don't think i've ever come home with more snot on my gloves. my jacket wasn't unscathed either (as seen in the first pic). i seem to have the right side farmer's blow mastered, but the left not so much. my nose is raw. i'll probably have to disinfect the grips come spring.
da tour starts this weekend. sunday morning to be exact. john finished some much needed maintenance on the commuter which included swapping out bars and stem. casey picked the tape... she likes blue, reminds her of the king from the movie cars. dinoco blue.















out makin' sure its ready... with some friends.

funny thing

so we went to jewel wednesday night to cash in our coins. our bucket was so full we couldn't add anymore. jewel has coinstar which if you get cash back they charge you like 8%. however if you get a giftcard there is no counting fee. we opted for circuit city as we were cashing in for some umhhh xbox accessories like the wireless connector. anyway standing there forever (because there are so many pennies) this dude walks up to me with a wad of money. i mean a whole huge wad of twenties. he hands me a twenty and says "i just won a bunch of money at the boats. too much money. i'll feel better if i give you a 20." i was standing there with this 20 like trying to process what he was saying/asking. i couldn't understand why he would want 20 dollars worth of coins. then it hit me, he was really giving me 20 bucks. he probably thought we were hurting for cash standing there cashing all our coins in after the holidays. i felt a little bad, like guilty. i wanted to say dude, we're cashing this stuff in to buy video game stuff not food! it was all so fast.
it rained a lot yesterday. streets are flooded. the paved trails are flooded. we might be dry by july to ride offroad at this point. i hope we don't get snow. if it freezes at this point i may have to invest in some studded tires. we could have ice races.

the new year

the year change doesn't really affect me anymore. i've been entering data at work for 07 for the past two months and talk of 08 product has been going on for some time now.
we went to my aunt's house for new years eve. mainly family hanging out enjoying good food and drink while making fun of the bears. i made it to midnight, unfortunately so did zoe. and she kept partying til well past 3 am. which made the next day mostly consist of this:


















one of the more exciting moments for me this past weekend was a saddle change:














adam is an ass saver therefore a lifesaver. ahhh... i couldn't believe the difference this saddle made while riding! getting off the back it was noticeably wider, but not bad at all- not like other women's saddles i've tried. very nice. i highly recommend it.
we added another new additon to the basement.


















i have to admit. i've never been one for videogames... mainly because i suck. but i found myself over the new year's weekend wasting many hours playing lego star wars II.
these characters were down there plenty as well.

















casey was down there so much john started calling her a gamer. but what was really funny is when i told her she needed to take a bath, she told me "gamers don't take baths". great.

Chad

our cousin jill's boyfriend chad was seriously wounded fighting in Iraq. he's recovering in DC in record breaking time (which if you've ever met him is no surprise). cross your fingers he'll be back home in Mt.Zion, IL soon. i've met chad a couple times (jill also talks of him a whole lot), and although i was shocked when I heard the news, i knew he was one of those people that would see this as a "bump" in the road. he has the most positive attitude of any person i've ever met. you can see this in him even when you first meet. it even emanates from photographs.
get well soon chad.

holiday

hope everyone had a good christmas. casey is still in shock i think.






































nothing much going on. just still in recovery mode. new years eve should be quiet. my aunt is having family over for some good food and drinks. try to find a sitter on new years eve! very hard.

today

sisters. miss boo times two. gaston. slobs. best friends. trail. deer. my sleeping beauties.

mad props

to afeltz for the badass xmas gift. too bad my lame ass (no pun intended) forgot to put it on for my ride i did this afternoon. duh. needless to say i was back early.

sick

i have a yucky cold. sore throat, druggy eyes, runny nose and am totally run down.
SRAM's xmas party tonight. so i go home early and come back later. should be fun.

change

while they did this















i did this













winter fun has begun.

overdressed mofo

okay, so i did it twice, but it did seem to get warmer as i rode on. i went for a ride on saturday. yes, me. early in the day when we ran errands it was a bit chillier than i expected as they were saying mid-50s. so when i dressed for my ride i wore my beefier gloves- my hands are wussies. at first i seemed to be perfectly dressed as i was a bit chilly standing outside, but as the ride progressed i ended up riding with no gloves and taking off my wind jacket. i also slid my headband off my ears, but that was a mistake. i could feel my ear canals get really cold and then a pain in my neck as if there were fluid in there and it was ready to freeze. so i slid that back on.
it was a slow short ride, but for me it was longer than it should've been and as fast as i could go. i'm so out of shape. i hope a few more rides like that will get me back into better condition.
the saddle was my other nemesis. my hips are not even close to being back to normal. my saddle is acting like a wedge trying to pry my sit bones furthur apart than they already are. i would have loved to been out on sunday as well, but the pain was intolerable. switch saddles you say? every bike in our house has a wtb rocket. that's it. i need a wtb deva or fizik vitesse- something a little wider in the back, but not fugly. anyone have one? i'd really like the vitesse, but qbp is outta stock.
zoe seems to be catching a bit of a cold. poor girl. i hate when infants are sick. i wish there were a way you could get them to blow their nose instead of trying to suck it out with that bulb thing (which thankfully hasn't needed to be done).
set this week on cruise control. i'm outta here after wednesday not to be back in the office til hopefully the new year. but that could change...

tgif

i was super stoked this a.m. on the drive in. all express lanes on the damn ryan opened. sweet. lame, i know. but you can't even imagine...
finished up with xmas decorations last night. baked some cookies. stayed up til 12:30 with a happy talking baby. wth. go to bed already. i don't know what her deal was. so needless to say i'm tired.
i'm super excited about the weather. i cleaned up and junk yesterday so tomorrow i'm FREE. i also plan on working on the spot and if time the sycip.

i ♥ modest mouse

i went back to the old stuff and it was like new again. except i could sing along. it made me want to go for a ride. but really, what doesn't.
i finished the last of my xmas shopping tonight. now i just have to do inventory and make sure i have enough wrapping crap to finish it. still haven't finished the poor tree. i suck. you'd think i'd make this a priority. i have two kids. time sucks.
casey's last day of school tomorrow before xmas break. we'll be making some cookies in the morning so she can bring them for her party. i work from home tomorrow so during the day i can gradually finish up the tree.
no plans for the weekend as of yet. it will probably consist of something boring. i'm going to make a concerted effort to ride outside. the temps look tempting. i just got a new pair of lakes. my old ones (which are still new) cut off my circulation so i never wore 'em. if anyone is interested i'll let 'em go real cheap. like $50. size 40, pretty much new.

coulda been a rough night

an almost 5 year old eating a whole tube thingee of m&ms at about 7 and a 4 month old teething... put a fire in the fire place and instead of chaos you get this:













i also have a couple of pics from the weekend...

you try and get them both to look at the same time.


















she was more cooperative than casey


















cousins. casey n ryder getting restless.

dec 11th already?

traditions can be dumb. thursday the gatto's took us downtown to "eat under the tree" at macy's (they still can't get over the fact its not marshall fields anymore- who cares!!!!). anyway, sit in an hour and 30 minutes of rush hour traffic to wait in line to eat under a tree (we actually didn't wait as long as we could've, we ate not under the tree). then we rushed out of the walnut room to see santa. casey sat on his lap, i was pretty proud of her. it was a complete 180 from last year. anyway, then it was off to get an ornament to make the 3pm departure time to sit in a car for another hour and 40 minutes. worth it for me? not really. but in a sense if it makes them happy, its the least we can do. the kids were okay about it. but i would have preferred a killer restaurant in the neighborhood and then the mall. we could've hung out, no time restraints and i probably could've got some shopping finished up.
friday i left work early. zoe had her 4 month doc appt. 15lbs and 27" long. you go girl. doc looked at me in shock as he held her hands and pulled her up, said she was "unusually strong" for a baby her age. no surprise to me as i have bald spots on my head from when she grabs hold of my hair and won't let go. casey will agree too as she's been nailed in the face with a flailing hand. i'll have to snap some pics of the gals and post 'em up.
saturday morning we busted out the xmas decorations/tree from the attic. we also found the 6-12 month clothing bin. to put the girls different sizes in perspective, zoe is wearing the clothes casey wore when she was 10 months. i'm all set on sleeper p.j.s as i hate spending money on p.j.s. anyway we started out cleaning the house. and not just straighten up. we wrangled up all the dust bunnies that have called our corners and under our furniture home from the time zoe was born i think. we did so much we still haven't finished. more tonight. hopefully the bears will either blow them out or stink it up so i don't feel obligated to watch. sometimes i get sucked in. but we definitely have to finish the tree.
didn't get to finish it up on sunday because i went xmas shopping with my gram, aunts and mom. i got a lot done and had a good lunch. it was like fun work. i can probably equate it too doing some much needed but not fun bike maintenance with friends over. sucks, but having them there makes it fun.
monday, today, i'm blogging now because i'm taking a break from a 3000 line item order that Olympic sent over today. i suppose i should be thankful its not handwritten like it usually is.
i'd like to go on about all this bike stuff i plan on doing, but i'd be a tease. i don't see that in my future anytime soon. maybe some trainer time, but that's even too boring for even me to blog about. but i probably would still.
i can't believe its dec 11th. less than two weeks left to finish shopping. i don't have much left to do so at least i have that. now i have to wrap all of it. and no, i probably didn't get you anything.

brrrootal

i headed out with john to the last chicago cross race this morning. running from the car to the house in just thermal pants, jeans, a long underwear shirt, a wool hoody, along with my bugabootoos and i thought this isn't that bad! ha. at the course i added my syncros coat, a hat and gloves. i was good for about 45 minutes and then my hands were cold, then my ass, and when my feet finally got cold even while wearing my bugabootoos, i knew it was time to head to the truck. i lasted way longer than i thought though. if i wasn't so lazy to go to the truck and put the chemical warmers in, i'd have been all good. i think.
conant put on a good show in the 1/2 race. john raced the 3s. he said he felt dead. i'm guessing it was from not getting in one pedal stroke after sunday. but feeling dead he gutted out 5th, in the money, so that was sweet. cross season over.
i didn't do anything. i sometimes tire of being just a spectator.

closet music

so i was reading mg's blog about closet music and how everyone has it... it totally reminded me of my friend carl. carl had jesus hates you stickers on his car. he was the singer of a death metal band. big dude with long scraggly hair and a goatee. his favorite music was all metal. one day i found out he loved elton john. elton john? wtf! but actually thinking about it, he was never in the closet about it. but i still think its hilarious that big ass death metal carl loved elton john. he actually got into a fight with someone at a bar because of it.
we just got back from the hawk's game. casey had a good time. she was good for about 36 minutes of the actual game time. we lost her at the end of the second half and by the third she hit meltdown status. but all in all it was a great time.
where the hell did the toolbar go to upload pics? am i drunk and just don't see it? oh well, i'll use photobucket.





i'm not really a sports person but put me in front of the tv while the bears or hawks are on and i'm suddenly their biggest fans and should be their coach.

woo...

that was some heavy ass snow. well slush really. it's days like this i wish i had a garage to use.

in the pink

yikes... the ice is falling now. snow soon. i wonder if we'll get as much snow as they are hyping? 3 inches, 6 inches, a foot... doesn't matter. it all sucks. if i lived on or near a mountain, i might think differently, my snowboard would at least get to play for once. its probably gonna be the heavy wet snow, at least it'll be a workout shoveling it. or i'll throw my back out.

boo

my car door cracked from the ice while opening it. sucks. i hate winter.

what?

i swear i blogged something from work today. apparently it was a dream. the weather is turning to crap as we speak. my drive home today i thought about my layering system and what i'd wear on my next ride. brrr... i get the chills just thinking about it.
i have tons of things i want to do this weekend... i want to change up the sycip or spot big time (haven't decided which yet). but i need to find the time. not sure i can. friday night we are taking casey to see the hawks. she still wants to be a rockstar but might want to be a hockey player. saturday is hayden's bday party. it starts at 12:30, so if i get up early perhaps i can get busy on it. sunday is the last chicago cross race. sram will have a big tent there (i hope its heated). i have lots of stuff i need to order but it won't happen before the holidays. i'd ask for it for xmas, but its hard asking for something when i get the deal.

dissed

have you ever been truly upset about something and it takes all of your adultness out of you to get over it when really you just want to be mad about it forever... and then you are pretty much over it and then somebody comes and rubs it in again? ughhh. i'm going for a walk.

vinegary

can you believe this weather!!! holy crap. i love it. i wish i could totally ditch work and get a ride in. hmmm... maybe hmmm, i may pack the bike up and go tomorrow. watch, it'll rain. (i try to be optimistic really, but sometimes i just have to prepare myself)
the weekend was okay but ended on a shitter. the only ride i was able to get was a couple laps around the golf course on my road bike. my stomach still aches because i wasn't able to get out on a mountain bike sunday.
i miss music. i remember in like college days and a couple years after i was always subjected to new music. now as i get further and further away from those years i don't seem to have any way of hearing that cool new band or cool old band or whatever. i feel like my collection is stale. i'm completely bored with it. does anybody have any suggestions? i could really use some fresh stuff.
i have my eyes on a new macbook. i want this before any new bike or part. my laptops are sooo outdated. i've been relying on my work computer and that just sucks.
i went blog reading this afternoon and was disappointed by the lack of updates, but then i had to look at my blog and realize i suck at updates too.
it's 10 pm and i'm going to bed.

so pissed

one guess.

turkeytastic

rode the rig. i knew it was overgeared for my weak ass self, but i didn't care. had fun anyway. had to stop twice to puke... ended up taking off my wool shirt and was fine. i was way overheated. i learn this lesson usually once a year. i haven't had many opportunities to learn this season. took off the jersey and it was MUCH better. didn't ride much due to the having to puke... but dhiraj and i caught up a bit- we hadn't talked in awhile. he wasn't feeling too well either, we took turns holding each others hair. we laughed about him still having the picture of me knocked out cold after we thought i broke my neck out at the mesa. i'll have to scan that pic.
speaking of pictures... i don't have one from the ride today because i left my camera on the front seat of the car! another point for dumbass. hopefully someone from the ride will post 'em at work on monday.
i went through all the sale papers and nothing is calling my name to deal with black friday. john had heard somewhere that some place was going to have the lcd tv we've had our eye on, but can't find it. i think he was dreaming.
anyway, i'm babbling at this point. turkey day was good. ride, family, more family, good food and pie. i love pie with cool whip. i'm sitting her super pissed at myself for not bringing a piece home with me. dammit.

gobble gobble

rumor has it that stan, the prez of this awesome component maker might show up for the annual turkey day ride out at palos. should be fun. i was all freakin' out about not being able to participate in a group ride because i have absolutely no fitness. then i found out that some of the srammies will be bringing their kids. sramtastic. as long as they aren't as fast as jay's kid i'll be fine. now for the most major decison of the week- which bike?

zoe got her first tooth! its about time... she was losing like a gallon of saliva per hour.

so...

i'm on the expressway heading for the outbound ryan. one of the lanes ends after all the entrances in the city end, essentially right at the circle interchange. i'm speeding in the lane next to this. some asshole comes shootin' up in the lane that ends (i see him in my mirror). so i speed even more so he can't cut me off. so then he shoots behind me and then off into the other lane and continues to be a dick by weaving in and out of traffic. now is it just me or do you hope that fucker hits a concrete barrier too? it is this exact person that takes a perfectly moving expressway and turns it into a clusterfuck when he makes my wish come true.
on a lighter note i got home early today. not necessarily great circumstances, my gram has pneumonia so couldn't watch my kids. but not horrible circumstances either, she's at home probably eating ice cream or something.
the tv can be an awesome sitter sometimes...

moms rule

the damn ryan is under construction. my usual 40-60 minute commute has turned into on average 1 hr and 40 minutes. yes, that's right i'm in a coffin for over 3 hours a day. its starting to take its toll. i feel like i'm going to have a breakdown. i don't think if you don't commute you can comprehend how horrible this is. my mom rules because on tuesday she was at my house watching the girls. her house was all smelly from having her hardwood floors done. i came home tuesday night at 5:30 (i left early at 4) to hot rice, chicken breast, green beans and biscuits hot off the stove/oven. we ate dinner on a weeknight before 7:30pm. i can't put into words how nice this was.
i also blame the suckiness of my blog as of late due to my commute. work is busy (i actually started a lull yesterday) so no time there... and getting home after 6:30, having to make dinner, make sure homework is done, dinner and other house chores like laundry have to be done... blogging just hasn't been a priority. i have tons of stuff to bitch about, but none are appropriate for a public blog.
i planned on going for a ride after work today. i left work at 4:30 and was home after 6. still dark, but i could ride and still be home. it wasn't raining in the city, but as i got closer to home, it was pouring. dang.
i'll get out there! but still i need to set up the gulp trainer just so i can get some form of exercize!
this weekend is the last weekend before the holiday shopping rush. thanksgiving is proving to be its usual pain in the ass self trying to share ourselves with both families. i'm not sure if i would have it any other way though.
zoe is finally starting to be more than just a lump. casey is going on 5 body wise, but attitude, man, she's heading for teenager.
sun prairie is this weekend. kind of a long haul for a cross race with two kids.

bite me

i'm too crabby to blog.

no will power

the amount of candy in this house right now is absoulutely ridiculous...















i so will not resist. i just can't.

saran wrap

so i had all this stuff i wanted to write about from the weekend- water park, cross race... and all i can think about right now is i hate fucking saran wrap.

good stuff

thanks russell. i woke my kid up laughing.

dang

i hate my camera. actually its just me. i suck as a photographer. i can only center well- and who cares if you have a digital, you can edit that shit. however i did take awesome pics with my slr. i just never remember to get them developed.
my lame attempt to get my bike photo page going... how fucking boring is a wall! i wanted to go outside... but mother nature, i hate her. anyway, it's missing a few bikes, some aren't finished (minor details), blah blah blah. if i ever get motivated i'll repost them clean and done.

do you believe in ghosts

i actually shed a tear on the way out to palos this morning. it was the day of the poker ride. while pregnant i always thought to myself, well when i finally pop this kid out, at least there is still the poker ride. of course i'm sick. like lung sick. an asthmatics nightmare... no way could i head out in 30 some degree temperatures with rain. i'm glad we headed out there though. singletrack was unrideable and the double track was almost as bad. but i'm still bummed. i kept saying to myself, too bad we didn't have yesterday's weather, then i had to remind myself again that i was sick.
i'm not a religious person by any stretch of the imagination. i'm not even sure if i consider myself spiritual, but i do feel i am to some degree. we used to always say that casey was watching spirits when she was a baby because she'd always be looking off somewhere smiling and kicking her legs n stuff. well zoe does that too. i joke with her that the spirits must be making faces at her because she'll be cracking up while i'm changing her diaper, but she's totally not looking at me. so tonight i'm sitting on my bed with zoe and the dog. i start joking with her about it again as she's looking off into the corner cracking up. so i say zoe are you playing with the spirits again, right after that behind our bed, a piece from carbon's cage made a noise, almost like somebody moved their hand across the bars. creeped me out. my mind tells me it was just a coincidence, but i can't help but think what a strange coincidence.
i think i read somewhere that the soft spot on their head had something to do with it. like it was a window to the spirit world. that's why after age two- i think about when the soft spot closes- their staring off into space cracking up ends.
not sure if i believe it, but it does catch my attention.

33

it's my birthday today. i actually had to do the math.

ho hum

these two are always up to no good...





















i'm waiting on wheels to finish building a new rig. john and i have to pick a day to do photos.
nothing much going on.
chicago cross series starts on sunday. the twin's first bday is sunday.
i've got a new set of wheels coming for my road bike so i can put force on. i may have a look 555 frame on the way. we'll see.
house is a wreck. its just clutter. we have way too much stuff.
i don't really have anything to write about, that i can think of anyway... i just felt like i should post or something... i'm going to bed. wow, it's before 11. yawn.

beautiful day for a ride

my heart wanted to go fast, my brain said no. my plan was to take it slow so i'd be able to finish. as the race went on i debated if i'd rather finish or see how fast i could go. i'm glad i kept to my goal to finish. i'm not even sure if i could go fast. i had little goals along the way like get to the finish before the elites catch you and cleaning the roots of all evil (killed it on the last lap). i finished 2nd to last. i wouldn't have cared if it were last, i still would have finished.
my fitness was, well, not there. my technical skills were rusty. by lap two they were starting to come around. by lap three i was railing turns and bombing the hills and catching air. i cleared roots of all evil. and then the equalizer killed me good on the last lap. this is me after making it half way up the first time around (my bike rules):

















i'm glad nobody was there to get a pic of me on the last lap. i could've cried it hurt so bad. i was a millimeter away from cramping with every step. i want to thank the smoking guy for the encouragement to get my ass to the top. the race was everything i expected. i'm not disappointed at all. i would have course loved to have done better, but i'll worry about that for next year.
john had a good race. he took 3rd age group.

race fans

tomorrow is sheboygan. w00t. i'm excited and full of dread at the same time. weather looks to be perfect, couldn't ask for a better day in october. i have to go try on my d'arcy gear... not sure if it fits... and if it does, i have to make sure i look good in it. this is very doubtful.
zoe is finally sleeping, casey is downstairs watching jurassic park and i'm sure john is assuring her dinosaurs are no longer real. sometimes i can't believe we let her watch certain things. we are bad parents. family guy will come to a halt real soon as she's been starting to ask questions.
john finished up his cross bike today... pics real soon (i know i know, yeah right). i did nothing to any of my bikes. i'm a total slacker. building some new wheels for the rig, the stock wheels are lards. i would have preferred pewter hubs, but black will have to do. i need an orange king headset... i'm still pissed they dissed purple... and even more pissed at myself for not buying one.
race report after the race sometime i suppose.
cross racing starts next weekend. i love watching it, but sometimes the travel isn't worth it.

friday

it's 3 o'clock on friday. i've been total slacker for the past hour or so. catching up on blogs and looking at whatever on ebay. thoughts were about sheboyagan, will sara ever answer my emails and the typical debate on my next frame. i'm thinking ti. i have a hard time with the cost, but it has always been in the back of my mind for years. we'll see, the pricetag is killing me, i totally can't afford it, but really i shouldn't afford half the shit i do...
i'm thinking of ditching out early. casey is spending the night at gramma's house tonight. hopefully zoe will be in a better mood than this:

rain

so it hasn't rained in like almost a day. that's pretty sweet. i'm hoping it doesn't rain in like the next million hours cuz that's how long its gonna take for the ground to dry. stupid rain.
if i were in shape i wouldn't mind if sheboygan were a mud fest. but seeing as i'm not, it will suck butt if its muddy.
went for a ride yesterday on the path... did i blog this already? i can't remember. anyway, my ride, it started with me in the basement pumping the tubes on the sycip. poor sycip. tires were at an unregistered pressure, she was super dusty and she still had like 06 parts on it. how awful. i had to steal pedals off another bike to take her out. i popped out the front door and the bike felt perfect. that bike is awesome. i keep trying to get my spot to feel like this bike. actually though, thinking about it, i haven't tried that hard.
i headed to the golf course. it was kind of late and i wasn't sure if i'd make it back in time doing the long loop in my condition. it was weird, i have been riding the sass which is rigid and the rig, which is now rigid (pics some day), all the time. by all the time i mean rides with casey, ride to my moms, etc. anyway, while on the sycip i had to lock it out because the sid was driving me crazy because it was like working. i am 100 % certain i won't feel this way offroad.
so i did a few laps... it was fucking walk-a-dog night. there were probably 22 dogs on the path. seriously. retracto leash nightmares.
it was awesome to be out on a beautiful evening. there was water everywhere. the singletrack along the sides of the trail were under water. the grass on the side of the trail looked like swamps. this one section of paved trail was about 3-4" under water, maybe more. i slowed down to go through it hoping to see fish or something. i seriously looked. it was kind of depressing seeing how wet it was as it pretty much meant i wouldn't be offroad in a long time. but at least it wasn't raining then.
while riding most of my thoughts were about sheboygan and at what point i would cry. before sunday i'm hoping zach and sara make it here to chat this saturday. they haven't seen our big baby yet, nor have any of us seen each other for that matter since hmmm... alpine? shit. it's funny how time is referenced through bike events. anyway, we were talking about picking up some burritos and catching up on things...

gravity rides everything

dang. check out what's going on now:














house is shaking from the thunder and at times it appears it's daylight from all the lightning. the sump pumps are kicking ass and taking names as we speak.
some kind of rig in the works... post up pics when its done (yeah right). john is still finishing up the spot. we need a dog fang and cable hanger. funny how two of the cheapest most minor things are holding up this custom build.
my sass still needs the steerer cut, spot needs the steerer cut and possibly some J carbons, sycip needs ultimates and 100mm stem, lemond needs headset and possibly new fork and stem, surly needs the bars retaped and of all things the rig is done with the exception of possibly having to swap to a longer or less of a rise stem. if i do all this minor bs i might take pics.
sheboygan this sunday. i can't wait to see how bad i do. john says, so just go to finish. real funny, what did he think my plan was in the first place! i'm a little disappointed that i haven't been out to ride in the past couple weeks. nothing has fallen into the place the way i'd like. not really complaining, just love to ride and really miss it. perhaps sheboygan will wake my muscle memory and kick my lungs into gear just to have them go back into offroad retirement for the winter. i'm sure to come home with some new bruises to my body and my pride, but i'll live.
i need to get to bed earlier, this midnight bullshit is getting old. my fault, i can't even blame zoe anymore, she's been sleeping for like two hours.
it's still storming! i'm surprised casey hasn't come downstairs like freaking out...

meh

i didn't finish my bikes this weekend. i suck. i still haven't ridden. i suck more.
work tomorrow. boo.

nothin' new. bday party for my cousin's kid today. josh's party tomorrow.
john tackled part of the basement today. i'm hoping to get some minor details on all my bikes (that i ride) done tomorrow morning and get some pics. john's too. they won't be as cute as above, but bike pics are always cool.
john's working on getting his cross bike done. instead of parting out the other one, i need to order some parts when i'm back to work on monday. ewhhh... work.

wanting to scream

i go back to work on monday. i then leave for vegas that wed til fri. i need to get sitters handled, etc. hopefully john's up for both of them. i have mixed feelings about going... i want to check it out, but at the same time it seems too early to leave zoe.
the rig is almost done. the brakelines need to be cut, hopefully that will happen sometime soon. the front brake rubs a little. i may have to have a tech weenie at work check it out. its kinda weird.
the only riding i've done is take casey to the school and do laps around it. this will for sure not have me ready for sheboygan. there doesn't seem to be time for anything and i haven't even started back to work yet. how do other people do it? my guess is they have a better support system.
i'm trying not to be too bummed about it as these ladies are worth it:

oh yeah

the mattress rocks. the delivery was uneventful. it gave me a reason to clean our room though.
i did get this though...
















and zoe smiled and talked to us for 2 days...
















and now she's back to being gassy and fussy. it's got to be the soy, but do i switch her back? i hate infant poop problems.

no weekend plans really. friday night we grabbed a pizza, it was nice to be out. it was weird not having casey with us. she was playing dress up with reese at my mom's house.



















we went to pick her up and visited with audrey for a few.
















she's like a little elf, so cute. her arms are super long.
saturday we ran a bunch of errands. we hit the mall and the mattress store to buy a much needed mattress. i can't wait. i love john n all but it sucks meeting in the middle of the bed every night. john and casey headed to duke's that evening.
















it's funny. casey loves old cars. john has never pushed her, she just does. she plays with matchbox cars all day and loves seeing all the old muscle cars. her faves are corvettes, which even funnier happens to be the car john likes the least.
it was an evening to put in the record books though. john took the trans am to bring casey to duke's. she was so excited.




































i was bummed i missed it but rage was ready to wake up and eat and he was on a time constraint. no biggee, hopefully since he brought it out he'll be more up for taking it out again.
sunday was just as uneventful. we hit lume's for some breakfast and then ran another errand. back home we picked up casey's room. it was so bad we still aren't done yet.
if you think this was exciting wait til tomorrow when i blog about getting the mattress delivered.
john leaves for cheq on friday... i wish i were going, but i'll miss casey n rage. not being able to ride would be a wasted trip for me anyway.

2 up front 3 in the back

so cliche- a bit rusty to say the least.
heart racing, legs and lungs burning, mouth wide open, sweat on my brow... all this before i even hit the trailhead.
it was my first off road adventure since october of last year. it was everything i expected and less than i had hoped.
i left the house shortly after john got home. i took the spot as the sycip is still buried and my other bikes are missing something. it felt pretty good. i rolled down into the trail. it was a little wetter than expected. most of the trail was dry, but there were spots that were pretty slick. i headed down and hit racoon alley. it wasn't too bad. i was super cautious between the trees and the roots. shortly after jill's ledge i started climbing up the steep entrance and was surprised that i wasn't going to make it. i blame clogged tires to a point, but if i attacked it in an easier gear other than what i rode it "last year" i woulda make it. anyway, i started to roll backwards and missed grabbing a tree and tumbled down doing a couple somersaults before coming to a hault. got back up and continued. i don't think this was a confidence killer, but i was definitely surprised. i had to be conscious of speed- i was super sketchy. its so hard to not go hard. i didn't have any more stumbles... but i had a mistimed log, hit the brakes hard in corners, couldn't keep the front wheel pointed in a straight line at times. i was just tired and rusty. the logs got better as i rode. they turned out to be no biggee. fatigue at this point would have played more of a roll if i had missed one.
i didn't go far. just the mesa trail. i didn't even ride the unparallel big log. on the way back i did a couple of hard efforts just to gain some confidence. i could hit it hard for a few moments but couldn't sustain it at all. on the way back i pulled the ultimate rookie mistake and looked at the finger type branch down handing over the trail and it totally grabbed me. it did this to my bottle cage.


































if i was left handed i might think about leaving it. it was pretty easy to grab.
i rode the majority of the mesa 2 up front and 3 in the back, last year i rode it 2 up front and 7 or 8 in the back.
i arrived home a little more tired than i thought i would be. my neck is also pretty sore from my acrobatics down the hill. i shouldn't be too disappointed. it'll come back fast. its only been 4 weeks since i pushed rage out.
it was funny riding. all these thoughts were racing through my head and what i thought about most was what i'd write in my blog. i had all these good thoughts, and now i've totally forgotten all of them. i don't see myself bringing a note pad out with me though.

word

omg. now i can't wait to ride. i'm dying. tomorrow... i'll talk to john tonight. maybe my mom will sit and he can come with.

since when

i took the spot and s.a.s.s. out on sunday. nothing big. just rode to my mom's house, once to drop casey off and then again to pick up some buns for some sausage on the grill. it was fun to be back on the bike even if only for a short time. i was planning on hitting the mesa on monday but it fucking rained. it'll be like this forever now that i feel like i'd like to ride.
i lost most of my "baby fat" right away, within a week i went from 166 to 138. my normal weight is about 131. so only a few pounds to go, but the jiggliness... ick! i need to start the crunches asap! it'll come in time, i actually am not that upset about it. after i had casey i think i had like 3 chins for the few months after.
zoe is feeling a lot better. we have a happy pooping baby again.
my maternity leave end is fast approaching. i have mixed feelings. i love work, mainly for the people i work with... but its harder i think to leave two. this time feels harder. i think about how i'm gone from 7 am til almost 7pm it seems. i need to fix that. i don't think i can do that anymore.
i am kind of kept in the loop at work. there's some drama with trek/bontrager am stuff. totally fucking ridiculous. i wish i could speak my mind on this here, but i don't know who reads it and i don't want to get myself or anyone else in trouble. the lack of communication (or maybe we can say lack of competence) with some people really pisses me off.
no plans for the week or weekend at this point. hopefully it dries up. no race this weekend- i don't think anyway. maybe i can plan a ride for here.

game face

don't let the pretty butterfly fool you.